Come What May
by MycroftsAngelEyes
Summary: "No matter what happens, no matter what you see, come what may, I'll be there for you until my dying day... and beyond if I can master ascension." Sequel to Blood Ties and Familial Bonds.
1. Tyger, Tyger, Burning Bright

**STARGATE UNIVERSE**

**COME WHAT MAY**

**Genre:**_**General/family/sci-fi/hurt/comfort**_

**Spoilers:**_**Oh I don't know... perhaps most of the season ;)**_

**Summary:**_**No matter what happens, no matter what you see, come what may, I'll be there for you until my dying day... and beyond if I can master ascension.**_

**Sequel to:**_** Blood Ties and Familial Bonds, its set in the AU (but still possible) universe where Eli and Rush are related as father and son.**_

**Author's Note:**_**I'm being lazy now... I've already changed the formatting once to make it easier on me but I found that too annoying... and I've actually found that it doesn't make me write this any faster :/**_

_**Anyway, I'm changing it back now (I am very sorry for this people, I'm not normally this annoying as a writer :p) and hopefully it'll stay that way... hopefully...**_

_**I'm working hard to actually get this done ASAP but I've got other fics and real life work which is taking up my time (in fact, if I'm honest the only reason you're getting such an update for this is due to the fact that my internet is dead right now; it won't be when I update obviously). **_

_**Anyhow, I do hope you're liking this novel as it comes to you in all its weird formatting and such ;)**_

**Kasey**

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**CHAPTER ONE:**

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"_**Tyger, Tyger, burning bright,**_

_**In the forests of the night,**_

_**What immortal hand or eye**_

_**Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"**_

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Fire is a primal thing; it's been the fascination of Homo Sapien from the moment that their ancestors first discovered that fire kept the predators away and made the darkness a little less dark. When the lightning would flash across the skies, accompanied by the apoplectic sound of thunder, and meet the earth where there were bushes and leaves and fuel for its earthen child to linger it would be of a great amount of fascination and fear for the still ape-like inquisitive creatures that were first daring to come down from the safety of the trees.

Fire was still a fascination of mankind, although it was not for its warmth or ability to discourage hungry predators, it was more for its ability to chase the shadows away for a while and to illuminate a dark and dismal world. On the Ancient Warship Destiny, fire had shed its earthen necessity of leaves and open flame as it became slim and sophisticated in the form of electrical impulses and chemical reactions which resulted in the heating of a filament which illuminated an area at a fraction of the energy that an open flame would require.

But just because it had changed and advanced with time, it didn't mean that the fire was any less of an imposing and powerful thing; oh no, what other thing had such control over mankind and yet was ignored for being as important as it really was?

Well, it was time for the fire to show itself, in the form of electrical light that permeated every corridor and every room of Destiny, it was time for it to take control and for it to be recognised as being truly important. And the only way it could regain its lost worshippers was to disappear from their lives until they could appreciate its existence.

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Rush was in his lab, alone for the first time in days and was very much enjoying the fact as he worked on a random segment of coding that had somehow wormed its way into the files he was reviewing, his attention was so focused on the console he was tapping away on that when Colonel Everett Young stomped into the room he didn't actually notice until the Colonel was standing next to him and spoke.

"Rush," Young said, his voice a low growl, and he was satisfied when Rush jumped and the Scottish scientist's gaze snapped from the console to him immediately. He would never admit it but he took great pleasure in scaring Rush at every turn in the road that someone had mockingly given to them and called 'your fate'.

"Colonel, you shouldn't sneak up on someone like that," Rush said, trying not to let on how nervous he felt having the colonel standing close enough to snap his neck or smash his head into the console he was at. He would never admit it but he didn't take any pleasure in having Young anywhere near him unless there was someone else in the room; Young wouldn't kill him with a witness in the same room. At least, he hoped he wouldn't.

"Maybe you should pay more attention to the world beyond that console," Young countered as he nodded at the offending device, "I wanted to ask you if you've noticed any power fluctuations lately?" At Rush's inquisitive look Young explained, "people have been reporting that the lights in certain areas of the ship are flickering and going out periodically, and I know what you're thinking," Young said before Rush could butt in with some comment about the age of Destiny and how glitches are expected, "but the lights are acting up in the infirmary more and more and T.J's finding it harder and harder to treat people when she can't see what she's doing."

Rush sighed and rubbed a hand across his face, "I honestly don't have a clue what's going on with the lighting Colonel but when Eli gets back from the mess, I'll ask him to have a look through the system coding to see if he can see anything wrong with the lights. It might be that they're giving up the ghost Colonel; I mean it's not like Destiny was ever really expected to have been left unattended for so long when the Ancients first sent her out across the galaxy."

Young nodded and momentarily put aside his dislike for the scientist as he asked, "when was the last time you got a decent night's sleep Rush?" He watched in silence as Rush's head shot up and the hand that was running through his hair froze momentarily at the unusual question; if he didn't know better he'd have thought that Rush was surprised anyone was showing any form of care for his welfare, _'I might not like him but I don't want him dead right now... he's the only one aboard who knows this ship as well as an Ancient... well, not as well as an Ancient but a damn sight better than the rest of us,' _if Young was honest he did feel curious as to why Rush would think that no-one cared about him, even in a professional capacity, but he reasoned that it was probably because of Rush's treatment of others.

Rush stared at Young for a long moment as he wondered suspiciously what the Colonel was getting at, _'is he going to use the excuse that I'm tired and attacked him out of sheer tiredness for justification of shooting me or something? No... he couldn't really get away with that one... though I don't think he wouldn't give it a go if it was the only option he had...'_ before he decided upon giving an honest answer, "If I'm honest, I can't actually remember the last time I actually slept more than four hours Colonel; but I think it might have been back on Earth before-" Rush abruptly stopped as he realised what he was about to say, _'no the Colonel doesn't need to know about that,' _Rush thought as Young looked at him curiously, "-before I was asked to join the ninth-chevron project," Rush finished as he looked away from Young and back at the console screen which was still displaying that annoying segment of code which had been bouncing about the screen every time he'd tried to get rid it.

"Well, Eli can check out the lighting whilst you go get an hour or two, and before you say Rush," Young said as he held up a hand to stem Rush's argument, "you need to sleep and you've been glaring at a string of Ancient gibberish like it's personally responsible for keeping you awake for who knows how many hours; I think you should give it a break and yourself one as well."

Had he been more awake, less annoyed and like the man who had stepped through the gate from Icarus onto Destiny a few months ago then Rush was a hundred percent certain that he would have responded with a very biting comment that would have made Young consciously stop himself from knocking Rush up and down the corridors of Destiny, but he'd changed lately and he was finding himself starting to thaw-out and become less of a insensitive jerk which made him both happy and worried at the same time; when he'd been insensitive it hadn't bothered him to sit alone, eat alone and be alone, but now that he was starting to care it was starting to niggle away at him.

"Aye, I suppose you're right Colonel," Rush yawned and he subsequently missed Young's look of surprise at the fact that Rush was agreeing so readily and will essentially no fight; it make Young wonder just how tired the scientist actually was, "I'll close this down and leave a message for Eli asking him to look at the lighting system to see if he can figure out what's going on with them."

Young nodded and replied, "I want you to sleep for a minimum of six hours Rush and don't argue with me; you definitely look like you could use the rest and Eli is more than capable of looking after things here as well as berating anyone who messes up," Young swore he could see a smirk on Rush's face at that comment, but he knew that he wasn't lying about Eli's ability to insult people; he'd seen it first-hand after the kid had gone almost a week without any more than four or five hours sleep, he'd made a mental note to make sure the kid got a decent amount of sleep each week afterwards.

Rush nodded in resignation at Young's concealed order, if he'd been the same man he'd been back on Icarus base then he was sure that he'd have argued and said something along the lines of 'I'm a civilian you can't order me to do anything Colonel' but that was then and this was now and he was really, God-honestly, bone-deep exhausted. He shut down the console he was working on, moved over to Eli's and quickly typed up a message detailing what he needed to do to gain access to the lighting system before traipsing out of the lab and off down the corridor, watched by Young who stood on the threshold of the lab with a unintelligible look on his face.

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Eli sighed audibly as he strolled along the corridor from the mess hall, heading in the general direction of the lab, when the lights above began to flicker incessantly and he stopped moving as the corridor before him periodically disappeared and reappeared in time with the flashing lights. Though he wasn't afraid of the dark he wasn't exactly a fan of it either so the fact that the lights were acting up didn't settle his already tense nerves; after what had just happened in the mess hall it would only take someone tapping him on the shoulder to make him snap and he didn't really want that to happen.

As he stood there, waiting for the lights to stop their dance with the dark, Eli heard the sounds of people in the mess hall shouting in fear and confusion as well as the sound of crashing and banging; most probably from the cutlery and stuff being knocked over or dropped. He was still standing there when the scream of pain pierced the air and he suddenly spun around on his heal and made his way back towards the mess hall to see if he could lend a hand. He pushed the door open fully, for some reason it seemed to have frozen mid-way as it was closing, and was surprised when he entered a completely pitch-black mess hall. The corridor outside was partially lit thanks to the flickering lights but it seemed that the lights in the mess hall were completely dead. Realising that he had his phone with him, Eli hurriedly fished it out and turned on the LED light on it, which illuminated the immediate area around him in the mess hall.

"Hey! Everyone, come towards the light alright!" Eli shouted, as he lifted the phone up high enough so that people on the other side of the mess could see it decently enough, "be careful were you walk and hold your hands out in front of you!" he added as he heard the distinct sound of someone walking into one of the benches.

As everyone began moving towards Eli, shuffling along in the darkness, Eli suddenly had the irrational idea that they were zombies and were coming to eat his brains; but he dismissed that as being a childish thought and instead focused on helping people who had reached him through the door into the corridor where there was at least intermittent lighting.

However, just as he helped one of the scientists through the door the lights suddenly completely died; the ones in the corridor and even Eli's LED light on his phone suddenly stopped working and that was when people really began to panic. Eli suddenly felt completely overwhelmed as he heard, felt and sensed people reaching for him but he couldn't see them and he desperately wanted to hide and get away from them; he felt a hand grip his and then another grip his shoulder tightly as the voices of scared and frightened people asked and cried and begged for the lights to come back on, for someone to turn them back on. And as if someone had flicked on a switch the lights suddenly came back on, including Eli's LED light on his phone, and the whole mess hall and adjoining corridor was bathed in glorious, constant light that seemed to twinkle brighter than a newly formed star.

Eli slumped against the wall of the mess hall as people quickly released their grips on him and others around them that they'd clung to in fear of being alone in the dark. He ran a hand over his face and groaned as he realised that there had to be an underlying problem for the lights to have gone out like that; at least he could probably explain why the lights of Destiny died, she was over ten thousand years old and it was only logical to assume that she had a couple of computer glitches, but what he couldn't explain was the fact that the LED light on his phone had too died when the lights had completely gone out. And that bothered him immensely.

Quickly gathering his wits about him, Eli turned the LED light off and scurried past people as he made a bee-line to the lab where he was hoping he could discuss the problem with Rush but when he go there all he found was an empty lab and a message on his console telling him to have a look at the lighting system.

'_Great! Just great!'_ he thought as he slumped down and rested his head on the console, "how am I meant to fix this exactly?" he muttered to himself as he closed his eyes and tried to think of nothing in particular in an attempt to dispel the rapidly developing headache that was making itself known.

But, since there was no-one in the room other than him no answer came for his semi-rhetorical question and that annoyed him because it meant that was going to have to figure this one out alone; without any form of back-up or encouragement from anyone, _'great... can't life just be nice to us for once?'_

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Rush was walking down the corridor to the main quarters when the lights had begun their little tango near the mess hall, but since the lights along the corridor he was walking along were working perfectly fine, he didn't concern himself with the lighting problem; fully trusting Eli to find a solution for it whilst he slept, because he had that sort of faith in Eli and he knew it was warranted.

Afterall, he had to often remind himself that Eli wasn't well-versed in Ancient technology, or its language for that matter, so the fact that he was able to keep up with Rush whenever he was working on trying to fix the life support, or the water supply, or the shielding on damage sections of the ship's hull impressed Rush more than he'd willingly admit and gave credence to the fact that he and Eli were indeed related; since he doubted that Eli could be such a natural with advanced technology if he had the same heritage as some of the fools that called themselves scientists had on Destiny.

Rush himself had had about three/four years to learn everything that was known about the Ancients, their language, their lives and their technology whilst Eli was still discovering a fair amount as each day went by. That was why Rush had decided to give Eli a copy of the personal journal of one of the Ancients who had designed and built Destiny; and had piloted her for a year before the Ancient high council had decided to send her off into the unknown territories of the universe. Initially Rush had thought that it would help Eli realise their situation and that he needed to act more maturely and think before he acted, but Rush had come to realise that it would also help Eli understand the Ancients more; to be able to see things from their perspective and to be able to read Ancient perfectly fine rather than just guess what something said based on a simplified cuneiform of the language. And it seemed to be working; the other day Rush had seen evidence of this when Eli had acted quickly and efficiently so as to counter-act an automated program which was trying to vent the atmosphere from around the second water-distillation tanks on the east side of the ship where a dozen scientists and military personnel were searching the area, looking for signs of structural damage. Rush was pretty sure that if Eli's Ancient-reading skills were still the same as what they had been when they'd first arrived on Destiny that those people might have died before he could have stopped the venting of the atmosphere; but since Eli was getting better at understanding the real version of Ancient, and not just some simplified half-assed version that had been on a computer game, Rush hadn't even known that something was going on until Eli had said,_ "we _need_ to write a new algorithm so we can stop the atmosphere from being vented in areas where there are people!"_

Rubbing his brow in exhaustion Rush finally reached his quarters and opened the door as he stepped across the threshold; he needed to sleep, oh did he ever! As the door closed behind him however he never thought to look behind and make sure no-one and nothing could slip into his room behind him, so he never saw the strangely luminescent face hovering just over his right shoulder and he never saw the smile that it wore.

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As Rush was walking along the corridor to his quarters, Young too was traipsing along a corridor that ran parallel to the main quarters corridor; heading towards his office and quarters so as to do the one thing that seemed a universe constant, paperwork. If Young had had supernatural powers or something akin to them then he might have known that he was walking at the same pace as Rush and also that they were exactly the same distance from the beginning of the corridors they were each walking down; it may have seemed like a coincidence to most but to some it would be considered an important factor in seeing the leaders and the commanders, the ones you dispose of first so as to take control of the group; to change the status quo.

However unlike Rush, who had a rather nice cling-on attached to him, Young didn't have any ethereal followers at the moment since he wasn't as much a threat as what Rush himself was; scientist, soldier, scientist, soldier. Scientist wins.

Anyway, Young felt slightly ill at ease when he finally reached his quarters/office and stopped and looked around himself, just to see if there was anything that was causing him to feel like something bad was going to happen; apart from the fact that they were on an Ancient space ship, on the other side of the universe, had already made some enemies and had faced a menagerie of problems since they'd arrived he'd never actually felt like this, like they might not survive what was coming.

He hadn't felt like this when he'd been a lowly foot soldier and had traipsed through landmine filled war-zones and he'd watched friends and brothers-in-arms get blown apart and shot with every turn he took. He hadn't felt like this when he'd been promoted and sent off-world for the first time and had encountered the goddamn Goa'uld; and their style of torture. He hadn't felt like this when he'd been on Icarus and the planet was getting the go-over from the Lucian Alliance. He hadn't felt like this when he'd dived through the gate onto Destiny just as an explosion leant him _a lot_ of momentum. He'd never felt this deep-seated, constant sense of absolute despair and he didn't know what would, or could, cause it but he hoped that they'd never have to come face to face with what was scaring a hardened veteran like himself. Yeah right, and Rush is a saint in disguise!

Shaking his head to try and dispel his negative thoughts Young stepped into his quarters/office and shut the door behind him as he sighed and looked at the desk which had an unfair amount of papers waiting to be signed; he personally thought that the paper was a waste of time but apparently they had found a supply of paper and so paperwork could no longer be avoided. Damn...

He sat down at his desk and pulled the first stack of paper towards him, looked at it and groaned loudly; performance reviews, on the other side of the universe and he had to do _performance reviews_! Who the _hell_ is he going to send them too? Hang on; do they do universal post or something around here that could fast-track it back to earth? No... Then what was the point of sitting there and writing for a couple of hours, a load of crap that Young highly doubted _any_one would _ever read_!

"But who am I to question the great and mighty IOA?" Young muttered under his breath as he grabbed a pen and began reluctantly scribbling away about the first member of the impromptu expedition that entered his mind, "Doctor Nicholas Rush is a pain in the ass, an antagonistic fool, should be shot for the insults he gives people... and should be recommended for an award for conceited selfishness if we _ever_ get back to earth!"

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Doctor Nicholas Rush, the only person able to piss off an entire military establishment quicker than Rodney McKay, was currently sitting on the end of his bed thinking about nothing in particular as he stared forlornly at the wall opposite him. Actually that was lie; he knew exactly what he was thinking about and he knew why he was thinking about it but he wasn't going to acknowledge it, _'no... I've got to stop this... self-pity is pointless... self-loathing's far more productive...' _he couldn't acknowledge it, it was the whole reason why he hadn't slept more than an hour or two in the last four days; if he slept he remembered and if he remembered he cried and if he cried then he doubted he'd ever be able to stop.

But he needed to sleep, he had no choice unfortunately; it was a human necessity and, though he argued the toss about it, he was indeed as human as the next person. So with a heavy and reluctant heart Rush lay back and rested his head on the pillow as he rolled onto his side and snatched the cover, which was still thrust on the other side of the bed from the last time he'd tried to sleep without thinking about-

He pulled the cover over himself as he viciously cut off his train of thought and contemplated the ratios of atomic reactions in a star, and the equation for conservation of mass, and the laws of Newton and the theory of relativity from Einstein. He thought about anything he possibly could so that he wouldn't think about her... and that was how he finally dozed off; with numbers and masses and ratios floating around in his mind.

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T.J was in the infirmary, stitching some unlucky person who had experienced the lighting problem and had ended up kissing the corridor walls. She sighed and apologised quietly when her patient whimpered as the needle pierced the skin; that was the problem with rationing medical supplies, a little thing like stitches ended up being painful because she couldn't anaesthetize the skin before she started to butcher it with her hap-hazard medical skills. She wasn't a doctor yet here she was, being the doctor; people asking her for help, having to fix broken bones, stitch open wounds, operate and repair various people because she was the only one who could. She wasn't a doctor so why did she feel like one?

"Alright, just make sure that you keep it clean and next time; don't continue walking when you can see your hand in front of you okay?" T.J scolded lightly as her patient nodded in embarrassment at their own stupidity, "okay, well you're free to go then."

The scientist she'd been patching up scurried away, probably to get back to whatever work she'd been doing when she'd floored herself in the dark, and left T.J with nothing to do until someone else walked into a door or something when the lights begin to mess-up again. It wasn't like she was waiting for someone to come in and have an injury, she wouldn't wish people to be hurt just because she was bored, but if someone came in and talked to her and helped her pass the time she'd probably kiss them; well, it depends on who they were of course.

Still... it'd be nice to have something to do to pass the time.

"T.J!" a voice echoed along the corridor and T.J looked up at the open door in time to see Lieutenant Matthew Scott appear grinning from ear to ear, "come on! You've got to see this!"

"See what Scott?" T.J asked curious as to why Scott was there, "I haven't finished my shift!" she exclaimed as he entered the infirmary and pulled her away from examining bay two.

Scott stopped for a second and looked around himself purposefully and said, "I think you can be spared for a minute or two from this _obvious chaos_!" Scott smirked at T.J who glared at him but got his point; hadn't she been begging for someone to come and distract her from the boredom of nothingness only moments ago?

"Fine, two minutes," T.J caved and Scott grinned as he dragged her off towards the observation deck where there were several people from around the ship who had either been injured during the blackouts or had been working in sectors where the blackouts occurred; they were all looking at the giant swirling mass of gases that made up the solar system's sun which they were currently orbiting at a safe distance.

"Wow..." T.J breathed softly as she saw what everyone else in the room was fascinated with; at periodic moments there was a brief flash from the surface of the sun and a huge strand of boiling hot gas sprung out as though it was reaching for Destiny with all its might but kept coming up short.

"Told you that you had to see this," Scott muttered as he moved closer to the front of the observation deck with T.J in tow, "Volker says that he's never seen anything like this and he thinks it might be something that only happens in this galaxy."

"What? The strands?" T.J asked as she looked sideways at Scott in question, but she found that her attention was continuously drawn towards the swirling majesty outside of Destiny.

"No, that!" Scott exclaimed as he pointed at the sun when a sudden burst of atomic particles exploded out of the sun, like a single wave of glowing light, and travelled across the empty space around the sun before suddenly dying just before it reached Destiny's shields; even though the wave had looked to be incredibly strong, "Volker can't explain why they keep happening or why they die out before they get to Destiny."

"Amazing..." T.J breathed softly, in absolute awe of what she was witnessing, "do Rush or Eli know about this?" she asked suddenly, wondering why one of them wasn't down here looking at the phenomenon themselves.

"I don't know; only Eli's in the lab and he says he's too busy trying to fix the lights," Scott answered as he frowned slightly, "no-one's seen Rush besides Eli but he says the last time he saw him was before he went to the mess."

"Maybe the Colonel knows?" T.J muttered, her voice too low for anyone other than Scott to hear as they began to slowly edge out of the room.

"Maybe, I'll ask him and let you know," Scott nodded and when they reached the door they both went down opposite corridors; T.J back towards the infirmary and Scott off to Colonel Young's office so he could find out where the wayward scientist that enjoyed insulting everyone was.

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**It'd be incredibly pointless of me to put "To Be Continued" here wouldn't it? Yes... it would... oh well, that's what you're going to get :p**

**To Be Continued...**


	2. In What Distant Deeps or Skies

_**Okay, this is the original formatting style because it's technically easier for me to write big chunks... apparently it is at least :/**_

_**I've had a quick look-through to catch any grammatical errors I can see with my own eyes but please, if you see any whilst reading then send me a review pointing them out... the better written this is the better it is to read afterall :p**_

_**Anyway, enjoy.**_

**Kasey**

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**CHAPTER TWO:**

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"_**In what distant deeps or skies**_

_**Burnt the fire in thine eyes?**_

_**On what wings dare he aspire?**_

_**What the hand dare seize the fire?"**_

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**It **was majesty to be on a ship such as this, beautiful sadness mixed with ethereal truth of boundless time and limitless expanse; it could confound and bedazzle the sharpest of minds and blind and oxidise the dullest of souls. Echoed companions from times past, darkened bliss and lit fury was present down every corridor, in every room, in every breath they took throughout their existence aboard a miracle of belief such as Destiny. To close the eyes of consciousness and surrender to the sweet oblivion that creeps and crawls throughout your awareness is as natural to man as following the trajectory of Destiny throughout the map of the universe and all its own little corridors and rooms in the wide expanse of black nothingness. For some life on Destiny would forever remain what it had been months prior; dull, predictable, boring and filled with rations, but for some – those few that fate and Destiny herself looked down upon and watched every move they made and every idea they though – for some, life would never be the same. Sometimes, a single revelation is all one needs to allow them to open their eyes and see what is directly in front of them; to partake in the brilliance of the epiphany that commemorates the conceptualisation of life. For those who traversed the corridors of the Ancient warship Destiny – whose sole purpose all those eons ago had been to seed the universe – the single revelation they needed has already been but so few had realised just how important a moment, in space, in time, in the history of humanity, that brief moment where two found their ties, their connections and became a mixed, breathing, living force to be reckoned with.

For throughout the history of humanity there have been unions, associations, that have changed everything that we know, everything that we hold dear to our hearts and our minds, and now another union, another bond, has been formed but none have realised the significance of this – just like they did not realise the monumental significance of the partnership of one Daniel Jackson and Colonel Jack O'Neill of the United States Air Force. Nothing could have prepared the galaxy for what those two men brought upon the very beings who were ancestors and observers of them, the watchers and helpers that never really interfered; nothing and no-one could have known just what changes the scientist and the soldier would bring when they had first met. And now, now another partnership that is embedded in something by far thicker than a life-or-death situation has formed and once again no-one has noticed the significance of it. No-one... but the light...

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As Scott was walking down the corridor towards Young's office the lights lining the corridor behind began to flicker ominously and - had it not been for the fact that Scott was a soldier and essentially had eyes in the back of his head, he wouldn't have noticed their odd behaviour – so, as he looked, he wasn't all that shocked when the lights along the entire corridor literally died-a-death. Immediately, courtesy of years of military training, Scott brought his weapon - that was resting on his chest - up and flicked the switch for the little torch on top of the barrel of his weapon... only to find that it didn't work. He was alone... on an alien ship... with no source of light... and he was scared. He didn't understand it; even when he'd thrown himself through the gate all those months ago he hadn't felt as scared as he was feeling now – back then he'd literally been alone on an alien ship without any back-up; until it had come hurtling through the gate after him – he didn't really understand it and a part of him; the part that had always been there whispering to him about all the bad things that could happen, was screaming and shouting and really not helping the situation!

"Hello?" He called out, hoping against hope that someone friendly was near to him. "Is anybody there?" His voice echoed along the corridor but he heard no echoing reply which made him really scared and worried. Deciding that the best thing for him to do was to get to Young's office, Scott mentally reviewed the mini-schematic of Destiny that he'd purposefully memorised. He figured he was maybe 30 yards away from Young's office door so, with careful and tentative steps, he made his way along the corridor – his eyes sweeping across the vast darkness automatically even though he couldn't see anything at all. One hand held out in front of him but oddly enough he found that he didn't need his hand in front of him – it seemed that, like people who spent years in the same, unchanged environment, he was able to navigate in a way where his senses told him where the walls were; it was like he had a sixth sense which just creeped him out but he was thankful for it since it meant he wasn't kissing any walls.

Though his journey to Young's office door felt like it had took years it had infact only taken minutes of his time, but when one is scared and alone in a hostile environment – because the darkness is indeed a hostile environment to such cowardly things such as humans who do not have the benefit of night-vision – time seems to slow; so it would seem that Einstein was right when he said 'Time is relative'. It is relative to our own perspective; Scott thought it took him hours to traverse the corridor when it had been mere minutes, and, to Eli, it felt like hours when he found a random segment of code that was manipulating the lighting systems in much the way that a professional violinist manipulates the strings on a two-million pound Stradivarius violin when it had actually only been ten minutes. That is the skill of time, it can change to fit the viewer but ultimately it remains the same – for time is as immortal as the stars and can only die out when its ticket is finally punched by the universe's bus conductor. Until then however, it remains a player on the chessboard on which man is merely a playing piece.

Just as Scott reached Young's office door the lights, miraculously, blinked back into existence – simultaneously blinding Scott and causing him to drop his weapon as his instinctive response was to cover his eyes and protect his retina's. As he rubbed his eyes and groaned in pain Scott heard the distinctive Star Trek-esque sound of the door to Young's office 'whooshing' open and managed to peak out from behind his eyes long enough to see Young's face as his superior said. "Scott? What's wrong?"

He felt a strong arm on his shoulder which guided him through the door and then propelled him to where he knew there were chairs – Scott's memory wasn't brilliant but it was still good enough to allow him to have memorised half the Bible by the time he was twelve. "Scott. What happened?" Young asked him as Scott sat down and the young Lieutenant listened for the tell-tale sound of someone sitting down opposite him – he wasn't disappointed as he heard the slight 'squeak' of the material that reminded Scott of cotton, as it depressed under the Colonel's weight.

"I don't know exactly sir." Scott answered, aware that his voice sounded pain-ridden but he was numbing himself to the pain that was still present in his eyes – it felt so odd and so uncomfortable but it wasn't important, explaining what had happened was. "I was coming to ask you about Rush when about half-way along the corridor the lights died; literally! I managed to get to your office but when I was about to knock on your door sir they came back on. I-I wasn't quick enough to cover my eyes – I wasn't expecting it! It was so sudden and my eyes are killing now sir." As Scott spoke Young heard the slight undertone that the Colonel identified as panic and pain which made him make a sudden decision.

"T.J." Young said speaking into the radio that he had attached to his uniform. He waited a moment, listening to the static, until he heard the crackled response from T.J signalling that she'd heard him. "Could you please come to my office with your kit? Scott's injured himself." He heard the hurried affirmative from T.J before adding. "Young out." Before refocusing his attention on Scott.

"I don't need T.J to look at me sir. I'll be fine in a minute." Scott protested feebly, but Young could tell that the Lieutenant was protesting based on principle – Young had done it himself many times in the past so he wasn't surprised by Scott's protesting; and it also meant that he knew when to cut in and stop him from arguing anymore.

"Of course you don't Lieutenant. You're perfectly fine. Although, that's why you still haven't removed your hands from your face the entire time you explained to me what happened, right?" Young raised an eyebrow – an automatic response from spending too much time around Rush – and though Scott couldn't actually see him he could hear the sarcasm in the Colonel's voice. Young watched as the Lieutenant's shoulders dropped almost imperceptibly and that was when he knew that Scott wouldn't argue anymore.

"Right. I'll turn the lights down in here and then we'll see if you can at least drag your hands away from your face long enough for T.J to have a look." Young declared as he messed around with one of the programs on the digital pad that had been his companion and best friend in recent weeks – the thing was a life saver since someone had put on their own version of the Oxford dictionary making Young's life in paperwork so much easier. As the lights dimmed Scott dared to remove one of his hands from over his face but was rewarded with a sharp and intense bolt of pain that ran throughout his optic nerve right up into his brain making him cry out and lurch forward.

If it weren't for Young's quick reflexes then Scott's head would have had an impromptu meeting with the floor. Young cradled Scott as the young Lieutenant moaned in pain and not knowing what else to do Young merely muttered soft words of reassurance as he waited for T.J to arrive. '_What the hell is happening?'_ He thought as he felt one of Scott's hands wrap itself around his bicep and clutch dangerously tight. '_Why does this always happen to us?'_

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As T.J hurried along the corridors of the Ancient warship Destiny, lugging her portable medical kit, she noticed that the lights were acting up again but she couldn't spare much time to ponder this fact as she asked over the radio. "How's he doing Colonel?" She was worried and concerned because she'd always held the belief that you would be safe and well in your home – and though Destiny herself was an impromptu and unwanted home, she was home nonetheless – and so it didn't breed much reassurance in the First Lieutenant.

"Not well. He's almost unconscious T.J." Young's voice crackled over the radio and T.J felt her heart jump into her throat. _'No... No, no, no... This is _not_ happening!'_ She thought as she put on an extra burst of speed and literally sprinted down the length of the corridors until she reached the door of Young's office. Not waiting to knock or anything, because this was a medical emergency and all, T.J threw herself through the door and fell to her knees next to where Young was cradling Scott's head as the young Lieutenant groaned in pain.

"Hold him still please." T.J instructed as she opened her bag and pulled out her trusty penlight and stethoscope. She leaned over gently and carefully pried Scott's hands away from his head - which was helped by Young who grabbed the appendages as they tried in vain to return to their protective covering of Scott's face – and flicking the switch on the penlight she shone the tool into Scott's eye. She wasn't expecting for the young Lieutenant to shout in pain, the neurons in his mind firing furiously and waking him up from his semi-conscious state. She also wasn't expecting for Scott's eye, for what little time she saw it, to stare at nothing and not following the light as it swept back and forth.

"Oh God..." T.J breathed softly as she fell back and watched in numb shock as Young tried to calm the flailing Scott. "Oh my God..."

"T.J!" Young exclaimed as he gripped Scott's shoulders in a tight grip in a bid to stop the man from throwing himself away from them in his agony. "What's happening?"

T.J looked numbly up at Young's face, her own showing shocked surprise as she almost whispered in absolute disbelief. "He's blind... Scott's blind Everett..."

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"T.J... wow, wow! Slow down and explain to me slowly." Young ordered as he stared at the frantic and panicked First Lieutenant. "Tamara." He said softly, hoping that using her first name would help ground and focus her. It worked.

"Everett..." T.J breathed out, tears in her blue eyes as she stared at the now unconscious Scott. "I-I..." She closed her eyes and tried to find the place where she used to go whenever she was panicked. She tried to find the place she'd went to when Icarus had been under-attack. She went to the place she'd gone when she'd had to treat the injured aboard Destiny during those first few hours after escaping from Icarus. "I don't know exactly but from what I can tell Scott's retina's have been damaged by a large burst of light radiation which has essentially burnt them to a cinder." She swallowed and carefully moved back over towards the unconscious Lieutenant and Young. "The thing is, he responded to the light from my penlight; which he shouldn't have done if he was actually blind. I don't understand it... this defies any medical explanation for blindness that I've ever come across."

Young stared at T.J as she stared at Scott, concern written clearly on both their faces, and he took a deep slow breath before asking. "Would it help if we turned out the lights?"

T.J's head snapped up as her watery eyes locked with Young's steely ones and she smiled slightly. "It couldn't hurt anymore than my penlight did." Young smiled slightly and watched as she stood up and turned the lights so far down that they were essentially in a dark room without the red light on. "I wonder if it's something in the light that caused him to respond in the way that he did?"

Young didn't know what to say to that so he changed the track they were walking down and said. "Stay here with him T.J. When he wakes up check to see if he can function in the dark; something tells me that pretty soon we'll be left in the dark for a while."

T.J turned to look at Young and nodded as she moved over to where the Colonel was still cradling Scott in his arms and they swapped positions. "I'll need Chloe and Camille to pick up the slack in the infirmary for the time being then sir. Could you tell them please?"

"Of course." Young nodded as he moved across towards the door, there was just enough light for him to be able to see the slightest of silhouettes which was a good thing because Young had terrible balance when he couldn't see – one of the downsides of getting blasted through the gate. "Radio me if anything happens."

Young left his office and began the long trek towards the control room – or the Apple Core as Eli had christened it; Young had been surprised that the young man hadn't called it something more... Star Trek-esque. _'Life seems to hate us.'_

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Eli groaned in frustration as his fingers darted across the screen and he glared murderously at the crazy-coding that was streaking across the screen. He felt like he was in the digital version of the Wacky Races – all this chasing and attacking and cheating just wasn't working. Nothing he did could stop it. Nothing he could think of was useful for more than ten seconds. It was almost as if he was fighting against a certified genius! "Certified nut-job too." He added to his internal thoughts out loud as he stabbed the screen viciously and growled. "This is impossible! I'm trying to stop something that's like Matrix-level complexity!" His head fell forwards and his forehead impacted dully against the screen as he closed his eyes and sighed in exasperation. "Stupid coding..."

"What stupid coding?" Adam Brody, one of the only scientists aboard Destiny that Rush didn't think was thick, asked as he strolled into the room. "It's Ancient. Of course it's going to be stupid to us."

"I don't think it's Ancient though." Eli muttered as he sat back up and stared at Brody. "It's got all the traits of a worm, heck it's more like a cross between a Trojan, a worm and a bloody sentient virus! Everytime I pin it down it literally annihilates every strand I wrote to contain it!"

Brody frowned and moved over to the console, poking Eli's arm out of the way as he glanced at the screen. "It's quite something... but it's got to be Ancient based. There's no way it could be anything else."

"When you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains however improbable must be the truth." Eli quipped causing Brody to look at him oddly. "Sherlock Holmes. Master Detective... Come on! You've got to have heard of him!"

"I have I just didn't think you had." Brody remarked as he returned his attention to the console. "Arthur Conan Doyle's novels seem a little... sophisticated for someone under the age of twenty-five to read."

Eli glared darkly at the back of Brody's head and was about to happily make the man cry when Young came into the control room and said. "Eli. We have a problem. The lighting system is going crazy."

"Yeah! Tell me something I don't know!" Eli growled as he shoved Brody's arm aside and began to tap on the screen again, stabbing viscously at segments of code that weren't working quickly enough."I mean, I haven't been looking into it at all... I've been sitting here playing Ancient video games because they're just so much fun!"

Young raised an eyebrow at Eli and, ignoring the odd sense of déjà vu it produced, asked. "When did you last get a good night's sleep Eli?"

"Oh I don't know... probably back before I was unceremoniously beamed aboard an intergalactic spaceship and then sent hurtling across the Milky Way to a planet where a bunch of crazies were trying to dial some legendary address!" Eli said sarcastically as he paused long enough to look at Young with a rather tired and annoyed look in his gaze. "Now, if you're done with the twenty-questions I wouldn't mind so quiet so I can have a breakdown in peace! Alright?"

"No, not really." Young replied, steadfastly ignoring the Rush-like glare that Eli threw at him. "Scott's been blinded by the lights along the corridor of my office. T.J's with him and is making sure he's alright." Eli's head snapped up and his fingers froze mid-stab on the screen. "However he seems to respond to the lights, any lights at all even though he technically can't see."

"That's not typical of blindness though." Brody cut-in as he moved towards the other console in the room and began tapping away, pulling up the same screens Eli had on his console but focusing on different command-prompts. "Unless his blindness is more due to some sort of psychological reaction rather than a physical one."

"What? You're saying that Scott thinks he's blind so he's manifesting the symptoms of blindness?" Eli asked, his attention averted from the screen. He stared at Brody who shrugged and tapped away on the console in front of him.

"I don't know. I'm not a doctor of medicine remember. But, I know that sometimes that if you think you're ill with something you can actually become ill if you think it enough. There have been studies on it – I read about them in The Scientist." Brody sighed as he tapped on the screen a few more times and then said. "According to this the light density of the ship has severely diminished in the last four hours and mostly on the east side of the ship, nearest to the star which is still active. In fact... it seems that those bursts of solar radiation aren't actually dissipating like Volker said; they seem to be changing their wavelength and becoming for all intents and purposes invisible to us."

"But that's impossible! There's nothing on earth that can do that!" Eli spluttered as he suddenly dived at his console screen and surfaced around until he found the same screen Brody was looking at. "Oh God..."

"But we're not on earth anymore and this seems to be a natural event." Brody pointed out before adding. "And it could also be the reason why our lights are acting out – the changing wavelength must be disrupting the wavelength of our own lights aboard destiny."

"Okay, that's a good science lesson but it still doesn't tell us how to stop it or how to solve Scott's blindness." Young pointed out. "And what about the fact that some of the systems have been playing up? You were talking about coding before right? Well what's going on with that?"

"Oh we're not sure exactly." Eli explained. "I had thought that the coding was responsible for the lighting but if Brody's right then it's messing with other stuff about Destiny and... I've been going about this the wrong way!" Eli groaned as it dawned on him. "Stupid! Should've realised sooner!"

"What?" Young asked curiously as he moved over to stand behind Eli, as did Brody. "What is it?"

"This coding. It isn't actually programming; it's a message. Kind of like what some hackers do when they're testing the weaknesses of a system – they can leave messages that aren't picked up because they don't directly interfere with the system unless you try to remove them!" Eli exclaimed as he ran a number of programs that Young didn't have a hope in hell of understanding the purpose of so he waited for Eli to explain. "If I can find the right key and crack it we can find out what it says!"

"Which means it might be a message from an Ancient programmer back when Destiny was first created?" Young asked slowly, catching on to some degree.

"Exactly!" Eli smiled as he tapped the screen a few more times before exclaiming. "Eureka!"

He quickly read the text, which was written in Ancient and looked to be even harder to read that the normal version they had to read – which just screamed 'before your time' to Eli. However, Eli's exhilaration wasn't long-lasting as he quickly ran a translation program and read what it spewed out.

"Oh God..." He breathed out as he suddenly dived off his seat and sprinted out of the control room, ignoring the shouts of Young and Brody as he ran. _'Oh God... Please let him be alright... please...'_

Young and Brody shouted after Eli but, as they watched the young man disappear around the corridor, Young was on his radio asking for everyone to be weary and on the lookout for a harried looking Eli. Brody meanwhile moved over to take a closer look at whatever it was that had sent Eli running like the hounds of hell were on his heels. What he found explained why.

"Colonel Young." Brody said looking at the colonel and then down at the console. "You might want to read this." Brody moved aside as Young came around and read what was on the screen.

"I will teach you fear... I will teach you respect... I will make you learn... and he will pay as he slumbers his life away..." Young looked at Brody, his mind making the same connections as Eli's did and immediately he barked into the radio. "Greer! Organise everyone. All civilians in the mess hall ASAP. I want all soldiers armed and ready for combat. We're under attack."

"Yes sir." Greer's voice crackled over the radio and pretty soon Young was striding down the corridors in the direction of Rush's quarters, talking to Body over the radio who was informing him of what was going on.

Just as Young reached the corridor that Rush's quarters was on all the lights; every last one of them, right across the Ancient warship Destiny died. There was nothing but darkness in the corridors and even the light from the star wasn't visible anymore – they were alone, in the dead of space, in the darkness of space, and each and every one of them was absolutely terrified for their lives.

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**Same as last time I think:**

_**To Be Continued...**_


	3. Twist The Sinews Of Thy Heart

_**Back to the original formatting style everyone! :D**_

_**And here is a REAL chapter (well... I consider it to be real since I like long chapter's because I'm obviously an alien... though not the alien in this fic :p)**_

_**Do tell me if you like it and also if you see any spelling or grammatical errors in the text... I'm afraid my brain doesn't much like reviewing my own material as much it does everyone else's :p**_

_**Enjoy**_

**Kasey

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**CHAPTER THREE:**

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"_**And what shoulder, and what art,**_

_**Could twist the sinews of thy heart?**_

_**And when thy heart began to beat,**_

_**What dread hand? And what dread feet?"**_

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**The **human heart. A truly magnificent piece of biological machinery. The epicentre of the human body, it is where it all truly starts – sure you have the brain, and the gut and the lungs and such, but the life giver is the single beating muscular organ that provides a continuous circulation of blood throughout the cardiac cycle of all the vital organs of the body. Divided into four chambers, that all work in unison in a way that makes team work in hunting packs of animals pale in comparison, are called the left and right ventricles. There are two upper chambers with another two directly beneath these two chambers to make up the lower chambers – each pair of upper and lower chambers is called the left and right ventricle respectively. Between the ventricles there is an immensely thick layer of muscle that separates the side of the heart known as the septum.

Many people are familiar with the terms of a _'cold hearted man'_ and a _'passionate heart'_ and _'lonely heart'_ but they are metaphorical and apply more so to the actions in the brain than the actual, real, physical muscle that pumps the blood around the body. For some people however, the two are indistinguishable – obviously showing that they need to read an anatomy book or two to dispel such ludicrous notions – and as a result, they will often state that those who are stand-off-ish and anti-social have a heart _'three sizes too small'_; which is just a biological impossibility due to the sheer quantity of blood the heart must pump around the body daily, however, that is another argument for another day.

One such example of a person who is considered to be lacking a true heart, and to rather be in possession of one that is _'three times too small to the nth power'_ would be – as I'm sure you can guess – one Doctor Nicholas Rush. It's a common misconception that time hasn't seen fit to dispel once. Even if the members of the Icarus expedition have actually seen evidence that points to the contrary of their beliefs; but why would one believe the evidence when their own self-centred, blind and bigoted views are more than appropriate enough for them to survive upon? Nicholas Rush, much like the rest of the human population, actually has a heart which has a mass of 280 grams – which is well within the norm of 250-350 grams for the mass of a human heart – and is roughly the size of Colonel Everett Young's fist.

Therefore, due to the obvious fact that biology and anatomy is correct over assumptions of those uneducated in the ways of the human body, the members of the Icarus expedition are obviously referring to Rush's metaphorical heart. The one that no-one can ever see but can easily shatter with a single guilded arrow of poisonous bigotry.

The emotional hub of central thought. Rush's heart often dictates his actions and his thoughts and behaviour but none realise it; in fact, much of Rush's actions aren't as thought out as most would like to assume. Most likely because they'd prefer to think him a conniving, manipulative bastard, as opposed to an emotional, impulsive, genius who acts before he thinks and then has to work around it. Everytime they've lost someone, whether it be someone he barely knew or someone he had come to a close approximation of a friend to, Rush has always felt the guilt burning inside of him. It burns and it hurts and it bubbles and boils as he tries desperately to find anything to do to just_ make it stop_! But it'll never stop. And so he'll never stop working into the night, staying up for days on end, skipping food and passing by the most luxurious of rations, because every time he closes his eyes he sees them all. He sees every last person who he's failed to save; starting from his family, to his wife, to his colleagues on Icarus, to the people who died at Icarus, to the people on Destiny – alive and dead alike because it's not as if he can really save them when he can't save himself is it? – and that's why he barely sleeps, that's why he passes by the best foods and sticks to the horrid ration-gruel. The gruel is like a penance, or just another form of it, for him; it's horrid, bitter, but it has the necessary nutrients and proteins required for him to function as best as possible with the impossible burden of guilt weighing on his _'three times to big to the nth power'_ heart.

Not that anyone ever realises that. Not that anyone really cares. Eli, T.J and even Scott have priorities and yes, sure, he's Eli's father but he's never been one to show weakness to anyone, family, friend and foe alike – and though it may hurt him to bear this burden alone for the most part, he'll keep it squarely on him because he never wants Eli to feel this. He's already destroyed himself by caring too much, and if there's one thing Eli's definitely inherited from him – besides that brilliant mind of his – it's a heart too big to handle the realities of life. He feels guilt for that too. And he hates himself for it.

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He tosses and turns in his sleep, trying to rest his heavy eyes as his brain whirls and his heart thumps in his chest too quickly to give the illusion that he's having anything other than a bad dream. A very, very, bad, too realistic, nightmarish dream that is. The sheets are soaked with sweat – and it's obvious that even the Ancients never figured out how to create a material that didn't absorb sweat and such – and his entire body is clammy to the touch as the sweat that isn't absorbed by the sheets lays on his skin like a second layer of freezing poison. He shivers and he shakes and he tosses and turns. His forehead is wrinkled as he frowned and his eyes flicker under the lid of his eyes as R.E.M sleep becomes all the more stressful for him.

_Inside his mind he's lost. He's lost in his own head. He can't find his way through the chaos of his dream-thoughts and he hates it. He fears it as he runs around in circles, round and round all day long. The sun in his dream is odd. It's not a sun because it never goes away and there's no warmth in its rays. It's cold. It's freezing him and paralysing him. Slowing him and weakening him all the time. Trying, trying and trying push through the atmosphere of the desert planet he's on. And he doesn't know why but he pours all his energy, all his thoughts and feelings into keeping the atmosphere strong, almost as though he knows that it's the only thing that's keeping him safe. But why would he think that? And- _

_A blue bird, big and bright, dashes past him spitting ice crystals out and screeching a cold, shrill siren's call. It's a warning. That much he can tell. It's eyes, burning red – so in contrast with its shimmering, silvery blue, feathers – are shouting at him, distancing him, helping him. But helping him how? How can they help him with something he has no clue about? _

_The bird flies away, a trail of ice crystals that shimmer like blue diamond's left in its wake, and he turns his attention back to the sun only the suns not there anymore. But it's still light, and he really, really doesn't understand any of this anymore. There's no order in this dream. There's no underlying reason, there can't be. It's just... mad. There's no sun anymore but it's still light, and he starts to warm again. He feels his hands and his feet and his legs and arms and chest and lungs and head. He can feel it all and he can move again... and he doesn't understand it at all..._

Outside his mind. Out in the real world he tosses and turns a few more times before he settles. His breathing is level and his heart slows to a soft and gentle _'thump, thump-thump'_ and the cold sweat on him warms as he relaxes. But inside his mind. Something is changing.

_There's no sun. But there's light still. There's no son but he feels fine. There's no guilt but he sees the faces of the dead. It's like it's all being paraded in front of him but he's numb. He doesn't understand it. Can't comprehend it. And when he spins on his heels to look behind him he sees the universe stretched out before him. No more desert planet, no more atmosphere. No sun and no more air to breathe. But he's not suffocating. He's not dying. It's like he's watching. Watching the birth of the universe. _

_And it's beautiful and beyond his wildest dreams and he wants to reach out and touch the stars as they flit past him, propelled by the unimaginable energy at the focal point of the entire universe. It's like the cradle of creation. And it's magnificent. Who needs religion when you have miracles like this happening before your eyes?_

Slowly and deftly It slips It's icy tendrils around his body, careful for It doesn't wish to wake him too soon. No It doesn't wish for that just yet; It must gain access through gentle means first, then he can awake. And It is more seductively brilliant than any spy trying to draw out information from a source. It's had thousands of years to learn, to plot and plan. And now, It plays by It's own rules. As It's tendrils slip and slide lightly over his clammy but alive flesh they begin to change, to morph and mould. They are no longer too slight for most eyes to look right through, they are no longer so thin that a soft breeze can dispel them. Now they are thicker, harder, stronger and human-looking. Exactly what It needs. Exactly. Now... now, he can awake and It will have him. It will destroy him. And It will love every moment of it, of that It is quite sure.

_He blinks and it's all gone. Everything. There's no more universe. No more anything. Only him, in nothingness. Except wait... something's coming, he can hear it – and ho he can hear in nothing he's not going to worry about really – and he almost screams for fright when a huge ticking pocket watch swings past him like a giant pendulum. It ticks loudly and he watches it mesmerised as it swings past him showing the time. But the time... it's weird. It makes no sense yet it does at the same time. There's no numbers. There are hands though, real moving, waving hands that are reaching for him and he shies away in fear. All they do then is point, they point at him then at the face of the watch. The face with the words..._

_WAKE UP NOW_

And he does. His eyes snap open and his heart beats wildly in his rib cage as he blinks rapidly, trying to organise the cascade of thoughts running rampant in his mind. It takes him a few seconds, minutes really, to realise that he's not alone in his room. And it then takes him all of a microsecond to realise that he's not alone in his own bed! He gives a shout of fear and surprise and tries to scramble away. But It was ready for that and It pins him down. His arms are held tight in a strong, but soft grip and he feels something straddle him to keep him down. Something that is not hard planes but soft curves but not... human. He doesn't know how he knows it but he fear-filled mind is screaming at him that he's not dealing with something human. And so he takes a breath, steels his heart and mind, and looks up into the eyes staring down at him. And nearly has a heart-attack from shock.

"Gloria?"

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"_**What the hammer? What the chain?**_

_**In what furnace was thy brain?**_

_**What the anvil? What dread grasp**_

_**Dare its deadly terrors clasp?"**_

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"Gloria?" The human whispers, his voice is so soft, so full of disbelief and fear that It pauses for a moment to observe the human beneath it. It notices how the human's eyes are wide, the pupil's are full-blown and It sees more of the human's pupil's than it does the colour. It notices how the human's breathing is accelerated, as is its heart beat and It's curious as to why. Obviously the human is afraid, it is natural of the mortal flesh creatures to fear something with them in a room they knew to be empty. But it's more than just natural fear. It doesn't know what but It does discern that the reason for the human's heightened fear is due to the form Its taken; the only memory It was able to glean before the human shut it out; an almost unprecedented event. It assumes that the form which It's taken is called 'Gloria' otherwise why would the human call It that? Unless it was one of those primitive and irrational mortal creatures? If that is the case however, then the human would be of little use to It. It hopes it is correct and the human isn't primitive; there is no satisfaction to be gleaned from terrifying a simple mind. Not for It anyway.

Though It doesn't feel in the same manner as a mortal creature It still has the capacity for emotion, if not for the ability to empathise, and so It recognises a shimmer in the human's still wide eyes, as something akin to longing and guilt and... It searches for the word the human would use to describe it... love? Strange. But It will take what It can get with this human and its unusual mental defences.

"Gloria?" The human whispers again and It recognises the emotions in its eyes being reflected in its voice and so acts accordingly. It isn't used to a physical form, It has spent eons as nothing more than an energy that the constricting feeling of being solid is uncomfortable and cumbersome but it is a necessary evil that It must deal with. Realising that some form of response is required takes It less than a microsecond, but deciding on what response to undertake takes longer; granted, most would consider 1.5 seconds as being incredibly fast but for It the length of time required is annoying. It stretches the muscles on Its form's face and is rewarded with a rather grief-stricken and broken smile from the human.

It thinks that the human is waiting for It to speak but unfortunately It doesn't know the vocalisation pattern for the form It currently has thanks to the human's mental block and so It decides to improvise. Leaning down towards the human's face It recognises the brief flash of fear in its eyes as what it truly is; the human knows It is just a facade it is being faced with, yet it doesn't seem to want to actively believe it. It seems that the human's level of attachment to It's form is even higher than It has first assumed. Interesting...

When It comes close enough to feel the human's rapid, hot breath on It's face It stops and stares long and hard into the human's eyes, all the while It is constantly pushing out with It's consciousness in order to gain entry into the human's mind. But it seems that even being in a physical form isn't enough to allow It entry. Stubborn mortal creature. Stubborn and interesting...

It can feel the muscles and tendons in the human's arms flexing as it fights it's natural instinct to get away from danger and It's curious why it's trying to so hard to not give in; why is the human so attached to a mere form? Especially since it knows the form is nothing more than a facade? Illogical. A lack of logical thought can be the downfall of a mortal creature, of any creature, and from the little It discovered in the human's mind, it's species yearns for total logical thought. It is strange how, when presented with the opportunity to achieve even a modicum of that total logical thought, the human still acts illogically. It has seen many species who have fallen because they have failed to be logical in their decisions and It can see that this human has the capacity to be far more logical, far more capable, than many of the 'advanced' species It has seen in all It's eons of life. However, the human is not illogical enough to stop it from planning, that much It is certain of as It almost sees the human's mind running through a hundred or so possibilities. Illogical to a fault yet organised to perfection. A rarity indeed.

Making sure that It is gentle as It does so, It presses down slightly with It's hips and observes how the human reacts of its own accord; it's almost as though the human is reacting with great reluctance but can't actively stop itself. That means that it's species hasn't evolved to the point where they have total control over their bodies; It can use that to It's advantage too. It grinds It's hips against the human's own and listens to the quiet groan of pleasure tinged with fear that It manages to draw from the human. Pressing It's forehead against that of the human's It forcibly pushes against the mental barrier the human has in place as It grinds it hips down again. It hopes that the actions of It's his will be distracting enough to allow It access to the human's mind... and it almost is until something in the human's mind comes to the fore and snaps the human out of its unintentional responses. It is mildly frustrating but at this point It is more intrigued than annoyed with the human, though It's patience is starting to fray a little.

The human is panting heavily and if anything it looks more afraid than it had when it had first awoken to find It in the human's bed. Apparently the human is incredibly aware of what It is but is also aware that it is at It's mercy and is terrified as a result. And so the human should be. It doesn't 'do' mercy. Never has and never will.

It doesn't notice it when something appears to change in the human's mind or perception. It also doesn't notice when the human's right hand twitches, but It does notice how the human pushes up with its hips so that they collide with It's own. And It didn't know It could experience the same sensation as the human when in the same physical form. It hasn't had a physical form for too long, It's not used to it anymore. The human leans it's head up and almost of It's own accord, It lowers It's own head towards the humans; instinctive response perhaps? It doesn't know. It... doesn't care. Physical sensation isn't something It has experienced in a long time, It can be forgiven for It's brief lapse of concentration can it not?

Well, It could had it not been for the fact that the human used It's momentary inattention to slip its hand out of It's grasp and pick up the strange clock off the bedside table and smash it against It's physical, solid temple causing It to collapse from shock. Maybe having physical sensations isn't all that good a thing after all?

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"Eli! Wait!" Young called out as he turned around and set off in Eli's wake, with Brody following behind him silently. "Damn it." Young cursed as he just managed to reach the end of the corridor before the lights all spontaneously died at the exact same time all over the ship. Every single light from Destiny and every single artificial source of light which they had brought with them from Icarus, died. Without a warning, without any delay. It was a perfectly synchronised event and if Young had known that then he would have been even more afraid and concerned that he already was.

Eli was too far ahead of them both for it to be a realistic chance of Young and Brody catching up to him and so he realised that the best thing to do would be to return to the Apple-Core and order any soldiers who came into contact with Eli to escort him to the Apple-Core also. However, just because it's the best thing to do doesn't mean it's possible, as Young found out as he tapped his radio and found it was essentially dead to him. _'Great... just great.'_ Everett thought as he turned around slowly and reached out a hand for Brody. _'Does the universe have a grudge against us or something?'_ "Brody?" He called out and he was rewarded when he felt a hand grasp his own outstretched one.

"Colonel. The lights have failed." Brody answered unnecessarily pointing out the obvious but Everett didn't call him on it since he knew the scientist was afraid; heck, so was he. They'd never come across anything that could knock out the lights of Destiny; nevermind get through her defences without giving itself away once! _'But maybe it did give itself away and we didn't realise at the time?'_ Young thought as he gripped Brody's arm in a firm grip. _'Maybe the message is important in more than one respect? And why did it go after Scott and Rush instead of me? Maybe it knows something that we don't about us? Maybe it knows that Rush is the best we have? Maybe...'_

"We need Rush." Young said darkly, knowing that just because they needed the scientists help didn't automatically mean they'd get it this time. Not with everything that's happened so far. He knew that Brody was going to respond to his statement so he amended it quickly. "We need someone who knows what they're doing with Ancient systems and who can see." That would keep Brody quiet since he was only half of that requirement – granted, he wasn't the best 'half' but he was better by far than some.

"I'd recommend then that we follow Eli and get him to the Apple-Core so we can work this out together." Brody said and Young looked in the direction of the scientists voice; it was disconcerting to be in total darkness and to not be able to see who was speaking. Disconcerting and unnerving; especially for a soldier with as much field experience as Everett Young. He wondered how his soldiers would be handling the situation. _'Damn it to hell!'_

"Right then." Young said because Brody wouldn't be able to see him nodding and he tugged lightly on the scientists arm. "We stick together until we find Eli understand?" Young stared intently at the black space before his eyes as though he could, through sheer force of will alone, get Brody to agree with him.

"Well, I'm not exactly going to be able to go running off with you holding my hand am I Colonel?" Brody asks, his voice as dry and controlled as ever – even if Young could just detect the slightest tremor in the scientists voice, everyone was allowed to be afraid afterall – and Young resisted the urge to comment on the time Brody spends in Rush and Eli's presence; it obviously wasn't doing the scientist any good.

Deciding to ignore the comment Young muttered a quiet. "Come on." Before he set off down the corridor, one hand resting on the corridor wall to his left whilst the other one gripped Brody's forearm, and he strained his ears, listening for any sounds of movement ahead or behind them. Once a soldier always a soldier afterall.

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Eli didn't pause as he careened down the corridor when the lights went out. He didn't need to see to know how many steps it would take him to reach the end of the corridor; he knew this ship like the back of his own hand. He wasn't going to stop for anything, he didn't care if he ran into someone, he wouldn't stop until he got to Rush; his _father_. His _blood_. Well... he won't stop for anything other than the big, hard and _solid_ door which closed at the end of the corridor so suddenly that he crashed into it quicker than his mind was able to process the fact that, smashing into a door at the speed he'd been going at was going to _hurt_. A lot. In fact, it hurt so much that Eli was sure he was seeing stars or maybe tweety-birds floating about his head like he'd seen in a cartoon once when he'd been a kid.

"Owww..." He groaned quietly as he raised a hand to his head and felt his forehead. Said hand came away sticky and even in the dark Eli knew that he'd smacked the door with enough force to split the thin layer of skin on his brow and was now bleeding all over the deck. "Damn it."

Now was not the time for him to bleeding all over the place, he needed to get to Rush damn it and here he was lying on the bloody ground staring at tweety-birds and steadily pouring blood from a wound on his head; that would be his head where his brain is. Did life really hate them that much?

"Eli!" Apparently it hated him that much. Eli groaned as he listened to the sounds of Colonel Everett Young feeling his way along the corridor and, just in case the Colonel didn't realise it, Eli let out a low groan before dropping his hand back onto the deck. "Eli? Are you alright?"

"No..." Eli groaned as he tried to push himself up into a sitting position but the blackness around him was so disorientating that he gave up quickly. "Didn't see the damn door."

"You wouldn't have; it's dark." Brody said dryly as his foot came into contact with Eli's left shoulder and he let out a little cry of fear which would normally have made Eli laugh; now it just made his head hurt.

"Gee thanks for standing on me Brody." Eli muttered sarcasm positively dripping off his words. "Just what I need after getting K. by a damn door." He felt hands on his arms trying to pull him up and he made an extra hard effort to sit up even though his head spun like a spinning top that was rigged to a permanent power source; so he'd been creative when he'd been a kid, so what!

"Easy Eli." Young said as he helped drag the young man upright and, together, the three of them managed to have Eli himself standing up in the corridor relatively quickly; the only real problem was _keeping_ him standing. "Lean on me Eli."

"What do you think I'm doing?" Eli snarked as he closed his eyes as a wave of pain pushed its way through his skull and made him list to the side. Damn it he really hated doors now. Really, really hated them.

Young didn't answer him and Eli resisted the suddenly very strong urge to completely collapses; seriously, such a childish thing would not be appreciated full stop and besides, Eli still had to get to Rush. "Can you get me to the door?" He asked as Young and Brody began to manoeuvre him away from the door and back towards the Apple Core.

"We could but it'd be easier for everyone if we return to the Apple Core and you overrode the door from there, maybe you could fix the lighting in the process so you can see any closed doors ahead of you?" Young answered patiently and he smiled in amusement as Eli made a quiet 'harrumph' sound which Rush often did when he said something the scientist didn't want to do but was the best option; apparently it was another trait that both father and son had in common. What else did they share?

"Fine. Just hurry up. I don't know how much t-time..." Eli trailed off as he swallowed thickly and Young could feel the muscles of the young man's shoulders tensing. "How much time Rush has."

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**Right. There's technically only two chapters left (though I may extend that to three... if I invent another stanza for "Tyger, Tyger"). ANYway. If you wish for me to do another chapter as soon as possible (for me at least) I strongly suggest that you comment and review this. **

**Edwina, I do apologise for the absolute CHAOS I've caused with changing the format of this constantly but I'm not going to mess around with it anymore; I promise. :)**

**Kasey xx**

**And just to keep up with this: **

_**To Be Continued...**_


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